Apparently, time for Rangers fans to step forward to save their club has passed. For the want of £500k any one or collection of them could have bought an exclusive period as preferred bidder and worked on a rescue but no one stepped forward.
It is perhaps worthwhile reflecting on our hour of need 18 years ago. Celtic had exceeded their agreed overdraft limit and the Bank of Scotland informed the club that unless the account was brought back into agreed limits that day, it would go to court to appoint an administrator.
Back then there were no transfer windows, so players could, and would, have been sold by the administrator the next day. Celtic would have been left with an unwanted shell of a squad.
Word of the impending doom spread around the Celtic business community and John Keane decided to act. He withdrew £1m from his account and paid it straight into Celtic’s account at the Bank of Scotland.
John did this in the hope that he could buy time for the Celtic Movement to pull a rescue together. The bank could still have withdrawn the overdraft the same day, which would have made him an unsecured creditor with no chance of a return. There was also no agreement signed to secure the transfer of the club from the old board, each member of whom would later be dealt with on an individual basis, as shares were sold, or in the case of Kevin Kelly, pledged behind Fergus McCann’s consortium.
John kept his money in Celtic and received a seat on the new board, which he retains. He declined to appear in the publicity photos on the steps of Celtic Park when the club was rescued and although he attends the AGM every year, he remains a quiet and largely unknown figure. He has since invested more in Celtic, money he will never see back, but which has ensured his family can block a Glazier-style takeover of Celtic.
I have spoken to him once or twice, although he doesn’t know who I am, but I have often thought he deserves a standing ovation at the AGM for what he did all those years ago. Maybe this year.
We can only wonder why there was not a John Keane across the city.
Very well done to the Daily Record for their excellent story about CQN’er Tony Conway today. Tony, who now lives in the United States, suffers from motor neuron disease and made the trip back to Celtic Park last year with his Dad, John, and brother, Martin. They spent time with Jinky’s son James and met a host of people at the club, including Neil Lennon and Billy McNeill.
Read it, it’s a great story.
Remember to keep an eye on the signed Celtic shirt being auctioned for Wellburn Care Home, it ends Monday.
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jock tamson on 2 May, 2012 at 16:05 said:
Dontbrattbakkinanger on 2 May, 2012 at 16:01 said:
i’d prefer hot chocolate at half time. beats bovril anyday.
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BOVRIL!
I remember the first time I tasted this brew. Was taken to CP (around ’68/’69) by an uncle of my pal Willie, who came from a mixed extended family with the result some were Tims & some not. Willie wasn’t, his uncle was.
Anyway back to the Bovril: it was one of those spring days when the sun shines and two minutes later it’s bitter cold with rain/sleet. There we were in the old Celtic End trying to get under the cover at the back of the terracing, without much success. Drenched and bitter, bitter cold.
Willie’s uncle (fearing I suspect our expiry through exposure) took us over to the salubrious (aye right) food bar and ordered drinks. Amazed I was to overhear “you want salt in it?”. Salt? In a drink??!! So uncle handed us paper cups filled with the meaty brew.
I kid you not my hands were shaking with cold as I held the burning hot cup to my lips to taste…an elixiar! The most wonderful drink I had ever had. I felt saved!
Going home, walking up to Parkhead Cross for the 62 (of course only a procession of 61s arrived), with the sleeves of my soaking home knitted jumper past my wrists heading towards my kness, my socks and gutties squelching in the wet but only one thought in mind – I must get Mum to buy some of that great stuff!
Sure enough some days later my loving mother presentented me with the wonderful libation. Eagerly holding the cup, the hot liquid heading down my throat and……the most disgusting thing it had been my misfortune to consume.
Go figure!
Is the bhun game on the telly tonight…?
‘In 1870, in the war against the Prussians, Napoleon III ordered one million cans of beef to feed his starving troops. The task of providing all this beef went to a Scotsman named John Lawson Johnston. Large quantities of beef were available across the British Dominions and South America, but its transport and storage were problematic. Therefore Johnston created a product known as ‘Johnston’s Fluid Beef,’ later called Bovril, to meet the needs of the French people and Napoleon III.By 1888, over 3,000 British public houses, grocers and chemists were selling Bovril. In 1889, the Bovril Company was formed.’
-lifted from Wiki/EWTB/EWLM.
DBBIA- It was also the Welsh Midwinter Mining League where players come out the colliery lift straight onto the park.
Newco Sale United has a familiar sound to it.
Well i think so anyway
Luv the new away kit which will be out just in time for my very own Hawai 50
Hail Hail
love that new away top. stv site making big on the fact that is has a tricolour on the sleeve. Really.
neveralone
bovril art the fitba during the autumn and winter, a coke in the spring and summer. A pie at all times natch!!!!
On way to subway station
_________Oooo_
__oooO___(___)_
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_\__(____(__/__
__\__)_________
Mon the Feet
67Heaven
i think it ‘s on SS3, I’m sure i heard/ read that earier on.
Goldstar- extra time, and kicks from the penalty mark!
The ole Davy lamps earned their weight in gold, but a bit of an encumbrance in heading the ball accurately.
hello there ,Leo here
I would love to do your Paradise Windrush but mum doesn’t like me being in amongst big crowds (hence the tour with Hot Chocolate and Natalie Cassidy).
hail hail hail
ASonOfDan,16:42
I have it on good authority that Craig Whyte is
1. Very entertaining
2. Totally mad (see 1.)
From A History of Football
Final score to Southampton was 3-1, the 6-3 game was the next season, mixed them up, but the grey shirts were in this game.
April 13 1996 – Grey Day for United
WE ALL like to think that as we get older, our excuse-making capacity – one of life’s vital skills – gets better. No more ‘the dog ate my homework’ for us, oh no. If you ever log-on here and don’t see a new tale of football history then we’ll be spinning you an elaborate story involving public transport and the raising of the national terror threat level quicker than you can say Malcolm Tucker.
Today in 1996 none other than Alex Ferguson was coming up with his contender for ‘worst excuse of all-time’, when his side took a first-half rollocking from Southampton.
Manchester United had spent the last first three months of 1996 clawing back Newcastle’s 12-point lead at the top of the Premiership and were huge favourites to dispatch relegation-fighting Southampton at The Dell.
With the formbook well and truly being thrown out of the window Saints produced a blistering first-half display, going 3-0 up before the interval.
The reason for Manchester United’s capitulation? Well, according to Fergie, United’s grey shirts prevented them from seeing each other. Must have been all that grey grass down by the south coast.
The United players emerged for the second half after 15 minutes of hair-dryer treatment and fashion advice from the their manager sporting blue shirts.
Lee Sharpe recalled his gaffer’s reaction, saying: “The manager just stormed in and said: “Get that kit off, you’re getting changed.” Those were the first words he said at half-time.
“I don’t think he liked the shirt anyway – our results had been poor whenever we wore it, and we certainly never played in it again.”
Whether it was the change of kit or their manager’s half-time rant, United’s second half display was much improved, but Saints held on to win 3-1 to secure three vital points as they would go on to stay up that season on goal difference.
United meanwhile would go on to overturn Newcastle’s lead at the top of the table and also win their second domestic double when they beat Liverpool in the FA Cup Final.
The grey kit, however, fared less well. United would never wear it again as excess stock began to build up at the Old Trafford Megastore.
The kit was made by Umbro, who typically spent 18 months to create their new shirts for United, but this incident left their promotions manager Simon marsh wincing: “The phones started ringing as soon as we heard what was going on, and they carried on ringing all day Sunday. On Monday eight of us met here at 7am to decide what to do.”
All that was left to do was to abandon the shirt, much to the outrage of fans and parents across the company who had bought it expecting their heroes to turn out in it for two seasons.
RobinBhoy
Let me guess. Nowt happened?
AsonofDan
The Club is accused of not paying £5million in VAT. Not true.
Factually correct. Not VAT, just PAYE and NI Contributions.
Gotta love Craigy Bhoy.
Mort
Stop press!!! – Ibrox Hillbillies hold an AGM
Craigey Whyte shows up in a disguise and does a turn.
Mark Dingwall has a rant at Craigey – but is chased by the Hillbilly horde…
then Windy Miller takes the stage good style (4:30 into the recording) to Hillbilly acclaim.
The song? – well it’s the new Ibrox Hillbilly anthem – enjoy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGMWCnyNzg
I don’t think the band Smokie were all that famous outside of the UK.
The lead singer died some years ago so if David Cassidy has to take over the lead vocals, I think the question will be genuine when he asks “Alice, Alice, who the f*** is Alice?”
.
Moonbeams..
You have Mail..
001Bhoy
Goldstar @ 16.43
Come on-How scientific do you think a study in a journal called the new scientist would be?
Luddite CSC
Whats all the fuss about green, white and gold on the new away strip? Irish flag colours are green, white and orange.
I lurv RA new away tap.
One thing though. I diny fink it’s gid fur fitba. Players wullny see wan anuffer in thur purrrifal vishin. Too dark.
Seriously. I toofuly belly that.
MWD
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice will always prevail on 2 May, 2012 at 16:50 said:
Is the bhun game on the telly tonight…?
Aye,until the 72nd minute mate :}
I hope the Admin Bears don’t follow follow through with their threat to have a wee sit down on the pitch.
Apart from the mess they will leave, I would hate to see the club being fined by the SFA for improper crowd control.
Manu’s grey strip.
I was one of the hardies who travelled over from Donegal for that game.
I never liked Fergie before, but after that night my distaste went off the radar.
The skeleton squad that he brought to Glasgow was an insult to Mc.Stay and to the support who turned up on a freezing foggy night – especially when you think of the quality teams that Celtic have taken to Manchester Testimonial games over the years.
Having said that, it was hard to see who he put out on the park as they were practically invisable.
Cadizzy- I expect ‘Don’t play your rock’n’roll to Me’ get’s big licks in your house, when Mrs Cadizzy is spinnin’ her discs.
Summa
Unless your tryin to sell me over priced tickets for 2 hour slots of Olympic sport then naw I didley huv mail.
MWD :-)))
Smokie produced Kevin Keegan’s big hit record.
bsr. You only got 4 toes on each foot?
Utmost gratitude to John Keane for “saving” Celtic in the Nineties. He deserves all the plaudits. However rather than the SPL flag, wait till Scott Brown brings the Big Cup through the door to present it to him, just like Jock Stein did when he was looking for Jimmy Gribben after Lisbon 1967
Like so many others I am enthralled by the Thai Tims. Thailand is the only country I have ever visited outside of Europe. The self respect and dignity of the population were evident to me, even though there was a low standard of living. Seeing the smiling Thai kids enjoying the fraternity of the Celtic support is inspiring. We can learn from their enthusiasm, gaiety, empathy and energy. And green and white and gold looks so good on them!! Hail hail
Great to see DBBIA brattback in action these days too!!
This is not the giant step to saving your club- the Rangers fans are following the baby step guide instead.
Each new paid-up part-time messiah is like a big dummy tit for the hordes to suckle on…if they don’t get their way they take a toddler tandrum.
Ahhh…poor diddums.
dbbia
yep that’s what I sing when she plays “para para paradise..”. Sadly no windfall.
Will you be on a train tomorrow. Look forward to textual confirmation
In an undoubtedly tragic but unusual accident one of the ole Smokies was killed after the tour bus crashed in ‘a German hailstorm’
archdeaconsbench on 2 May, 2012 at 15:07 said:
Re posted from prev thread;
From FF….. This mob never cease to amaze me. Moronic doesn’t even cut it……
How much of your money goes to Lawell?
——————————————————————————–
Bears, we are the overwelming majority of the unemployable social degenerate type in this country and whilst we are spending our hard earned pounds with a little more discretion to hit the SFA I think that we should be further extending our funding boycott.
Is your paperboy, or milkman a tarrier? Is the guy who washes your windows or services your motability car a season ticket holder at the brendanbau? Is your local landlord of the wrong persuasion?
Make it your business to find out and if so dump them. In these hard economic times we need to look after our own and ensure that we are not indirectly funding an already successful and well run club like the Tarriers. There are plenty of hard-up bears out there who would be glad of your business and will ensure that part of your money finds it’s way back to OUR club whatever that might be called and the rest is spent in good loyalist off sales – and by ra way see yous so called bears thats still drinkin Buckie – I keep tellin yes thats made by taigy priests so it is, yous’ll get flung oot the ludge if ye keep drinkin the manky fenian wine.
There is more than one way to skin a goat, as we well know brothers, and in the current climate small minded people like us can make a big difference. Think carefully before spending your DLA
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Slightly but not very subtly awe-nawed by me. with apologies to awe-naw. but no apology to the half wit orc that wrote the original piece
bournesouprecipe on 2 May, 2012 at 16:55 said:
>>>
how did you do that and walk at the same time!?
greenmaestro @ 16:49,
Thanks for that my uncle told me the story many years back, obviously Adi was the guy.
Cadizzy- takin’ the car, hopin’ to meet a few excellent CQNers for a pre-game beer before the game.
You will certainly receive text confirmation of any contribution made by A.Stokes, if he’s selected.
Summa
Didley = Didny
MWD
One of my friends is a hun. I have so much admiration for him:to see a man with webbed hands comb his face is really inspiring…
Sorry to the PC Brigade. In advance. Yes HG Wells & his ilk were very wrong.
RobinBhoy on 2 May, 2012 at 17:03 said:
Was the grey strip not introduced because it was thought it would sell well because the colour was supposed to look good with blue denim?